Games, Entertainment, Geek Culture

1 Year Special – TBG’s Greatest Moments in Gaming Pt. 1

As part of the 1st-anniversary celebrations at TBG towers @pigswing thought it would be a good idea for everyone to chip in and provide a few words about their greatest moments in gaming. It didn’t have to be the most critically praised title just the experience that stuck with us the most. Well, of course, we jumped at the chance to talk about ourselves (for once) so here it is – TBG’s Greatest Moments in Gaming Pt. 1!

Trevor @Surrealrager

Beating Super Mario World is an instant flashback when thinking of my greatest moments. The fantastic journey finally coming to a close with cheerful background music while showcasing characters in the game. Learning the name of each baddy was cool, and being shown characters I’ve never seen was even better. It gave me the motivation to replay the game and search for hidden levels and secrets I overlooked in order to find them. Super Mario World is my favourite game of all time, I played it for hours as a kid. It’s the game I’ve beaten more times than I can count or attempt to recall. Following credits and characters, the image of Mario, Peach, and Luigi conclude Mario’s adventure. All those hours farming lives to beat every star world level and find secret routes on the world map. It’s sad to come to an end. The game has high replayability but there is nothing like finishing the game for the first time. Satisfaction, achieved.

My favourite moment in gaming goes to ‘A Traditional Festival!’ from Super Mario Odyssey. It’s a blast from the past from where it all started with Mario while also looking to the future. We see Mario transform back into his 2D original self, jumping over barrels being thrown from his original nemesis – Donkey Kong. Added to the formula, though, is some upside down sections and also 3D cube-esque sections. It’s an experience you just have to see. And let’s not forget the original damsel in distress taking part in this scene too – Pauline. But now she’s the Mayor of New Donk City. Who is singing the theme song, ‘Jump Up, Super Star!’, of Super Mario Odyssey. Which if your not enjoying the song while there’s a whole crowd also cheering you on while you’re hunting down Donkey Kong, check your pulse. Also as a bonus, you can go back and replay this mission anytime playing the 8-bit version of the song at your hearts desire once you unlock that version.

Honourable mentions to the Ganondorf/Ganon finale from Ocarina of Time and also the final Giga Bowser Jr. battle in Yoshi’s Island.

A suggestion by someone on the team to write about our favourite gaming moment led to some pretty fun reminiscing. There are things like playing Halo at my mates with a group of us and 4 machines linked up in 4 different rooms, I’d forgotten all about it despite it being amazingly fun. I’ve also got game announcements which has been surprisingly big deals, Shenmue 3 being the most obvious as it’s a game I never thought would get made so that was a huge deal for me.

In terms of actual gaming moments, there are loads to choose from and I’m going to get into some spoilers here though not for anything too recent. I’ve got things like the death of Aerith in Final Fantasy 7, the fight on top of Metal Gear Rex in Metal Gear Solid, the nuke in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and the last level in Journey. There’s also games like Portal and Witcher 3 which are full of epic moments.

As it is I’m going to go for 3 moments because I hate having to pick just one. First up is the intro level to Uncharted 2, it starts off on a crashed a train and as you get to a certain point you flashback to the events that led to that point. It’s an excellent way to frame the narrative in my opinion and works well as a tutorial too. Next is the sea of doors in Bioshock Infinite, it’s visually impressive and thematically stunning as it acts as a sort of hubworld to the different dimensions you’ve been jumping to as Elizabeth starts to tie the plot together, this sequence even takes Booker to Rapture.

The final one is the opening to Mass Effect 2, I’d initially wondered going into the game how they’d nerf my Shepard who’d hit level 60 in the first game as otherwise he’d be a double hard bastard. Turns out the answer was to kill him and destroy the Normandy in one fell swoop and have both be rebuilt by Cerberus who’d been the enemies first time around. It was a ballsy move but did a fantastic job of setting up what was to come and differentiate the game tonally from the first game. It’s part of the reason why the Mass Effect series is up there as one of my favourites on any format.